Senior Congress leader and former union minister Kapil Sibal on Monday filed his nomination papers for the biennial election to a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.

Senior Congress leader and former union minister Kapil Sibal on Monday filed his nomination papers for the biennial election to a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.

Sibal handed over two sets of nomination papers to returning officer and principal secretary, Vidhan Sabha, Pradeep Dubey. Besides Sibal, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) general secretary Deepak Singh from Amethi also filed two sets of nomination papers as a party candidate for the state legislative council (Vidhan Parishad) election.

The biennial election is being held to 11 Rajya Sabha and 13 Vidhan Parishad seats. The Congress has only 29 MLAs. The party would require the support of more MLAs to see its nominees through in case of an election. Replying to a question, how he proposed to mobilise support of additional MLAs, Sibal said “No one should not bother for this.” About the possibility of the Samajwadi Party’s support, Sibal said, “Sabka saath, mere saath(I have support of all).”

He said the Congress’ decision to field him for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh was a moment of pride for him. “I will perform my duties to the best of my ability when the occasion arises,” said the former union minister.

Speaking to journalists, Deepak Singh said he had been working for the party for many years and filed his nomination papers on the directives of the party high command. He thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. A loyalist of the Gandhi family, Singh referred to Priyanka as she had been directly in touch with the party leaders of Amethi and Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi respectively.